| Small
Business Blog Marketing, Managing and Growing Your Business |
|
|
|
|||
|
|||
|
|||
|
|||
|
|
Previous: 5 Do's and Don'ts for Dealing with Layoff Survivors by Gayle Kesten Would you consider it encouraging if I told you job losses among the smallest of businesses in December were around half that of November's numbers? According to the ADP National Employment Report, released Wednesday, employment among businesses with fewer than 50 employees in December fell by 281,000. November's count was 533,000. I suppose that's a step in the right direction, though it's certainly nothing to cheer about -- especially with the Labor Department's zinger that we're down as many jobs now as we were at the end of World War II. It's easy to feel overwhelmed. So much is beyond our control. When that uneasiness grabs me and paralysis sets in, escaping to the here and now often helps. And that's exactly why I appreciate the following advice from Warrilow, whose marketing suggestions for the next six months are really meant for companies that cater to ours, but also apply to how we market to our customers: 1. Shorten your time horizon: Focus your messaging on benefits that will pay off today. Shelve the "in the long run" advantages until the economy turns. 2. Sales, not growth: Adjust your messaging to highlight the immediate sales benefits. For many small business owners, growth is an unrealistic concept for the next six months, but specific sales help will aid in their survival. 3. Consider loss leaders: Revenue and expense pressure will drive many business owners to reconsider their current relationships. This is a perfect opportunity for you to steal share with loss leader or introductory pricing. | Comments (6) Comments One way for businesses to effectively focus marketing messages on benefits that will pay off today is with Pay Per Click Advertising, which helps a business to control the inclusion of its website in search engine results. Pay Per Click Advertising is quick to implement, measurable, and can be adjusted at any time. Posted by: Miles Technologies on January 19, 2009 at 10:44 AM I agree that it’s a great opportunity to eat into some market share. The challenge is that marketing is tough and expensive, even in this economy. PR could be a cost-effective way to go - especially if you use a pay-per-placement service like PublicityGuaranteed.com. I feel like a lot of small biz owners overlook PR and instead go with more expensive forms of marketing. Just my 2 cents. Posted by: Dan on January 30, 2009 at 8:44 AM Hi Gayle, Just wanted to make an additional point on the loss leader tip for people who are afraid to try this… If a business owner knows what the lifetime value of a customer, they can use “loss leaders” and actually still make money. It’s just that they will make it on future sales, instead of the first sale. When they know what the average amount of profit it is per customer, per sale is AND they know how many times an average customer will purchase from them in the future, then they can boldly provide loss leaders that no competitors would dare provide! Posted by: Scott Aughtmon on February 19, 2009 at 4:26 PM I’d sit on cash too in order to weather the storm. Give up a little equity to get advertising and other services. Posted by: Dan on February 28, 2009 at 3:05 PM Excellent article and I completely agree with what was mentioned. In this day and age marketing needs to be re-evaluated and structured in a way that the particular business can survive in the interim. Posted by: Aaron S. on March 16, 2009 at 11:22 PM |
|
|
|
|
Disclaimer
The information compiled on this site is
Copyright 1999-2008 by Attard Communications, Inc. and by the individual authors. |
Short-Term: The New Long-Term Marketing Strategy?
Great article and a necessity to follow to survive.
Posted by: Marissa on January 18, 2009 at 7:36 PM